Author’s Note (A/N): Well, here’s the next chapter. Encountered some problems writing it, but it was sorted out. The story should eventually be drawing to a close… and then hopefully another one… a sequel of sorts.
Umm… ( doing this from memory) I think that Tomoyo and Meiling were possessed by somebody… not going to say who. Then, they went and attacked Candice when she flew in… and… Oh, just go read it! In short, Meiling and Tomoyo are possessed… great…
by Shadowpheonix
“Shadow? Where are you?” Meiling asked, looking around cautiously.
“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you? You don’t fool me!” came Shadow’s voice, echoing through the air.
“So,” Meiling said, in a deeper voice. “You’ve found out. Tell me where Sakura is, and I’ll leave you alone. If not, you’ll meet the same fate as the others have!”
“Right,” Shadow said mockingly. “You don’t even know where I am.”
“True, but you can’t dodge an attack that covers the entire area!” Meiling yelled as a cold aura surrounded her. A large ball of energy formed in the air and began to descend, expanding as it did so. “Last chance! Tell me where Sakura is!”
“If you’re so desperate to know, then you won’t attack me with that,” Shadow said calmly.
Meiling let the ball of energy above her disappear and waited a few moments. “ Tomoyo! Glad you could make it! Help me find Shadow!” she said as Tomoyo arrived.
“You have no idea how big of a mistake you just made,” Shadow said, appearing behind them with his staff in his hands. “Shield!”
A shield formed around both Tomoyo and Meiling as Shadow’s Card took effect. A few seconds later, Meiling and Tomoyo passed out.
“Illusion!” Shadow said, forming what looked like a large steel cage around the two girls.
“Good, now on to the others,” Shadow said to himself.
Shadow walked towards where Sigma and Eriol had been, only to find a small piece of paper, floating in the air and surrounded by a familiar aura.
Great…
He walked over to the paper and reached for it. As soon as his hand penetrated the cold, blue aura, he heard maniacal laughter echoing through the air.
“You didn’t think I’d just leave them here, did you? You know that I’m smarter than that!” the laughing voice said.
“Sure, smarter. So, tell me… is it normal for you to attack people without them knowing who you are? I know by now that you’re not Altarrin, so who are you?”
“And what makes you think I’m not Altarrin?” the voice replied.
“You use a different magic. Well? Who are you?” Shadow asked again.
“That’s none of your business. I command you to tell me where Sakura is.”
Shadow stood for a while before snatching the paper out of the air. “You’re commanding me to do something?”
“Yes, I am. Now, you either do it, or what’s written on that paper in your hands will happen!”
Shadow opened the folded paper and read:
To Whom it May Concern,
I have taken Candice, Sigma, and Eriol. If the reader(s) of this letter cares for their lives in any way, they will show no objections to what is being asked of them. If not, their lives shall be relinquished from them.
Alright, fine. Sakura is with Altarrin. If you ask me where Altarrin is, I’ll tell you, ‘he’s over there’ and point to the north. If you ask, ‘how far,’ I’ll tell you that I don’t know. Are you satisfied?
“I should destroy these worthless beings just for your insolence!” the voice said, enraged.
“Well, I didn’t lie to you in all of that, and if you want to destroy them, go ahead. I don’t care.”
“You’re bluffing!”
“No, but I think you might be. Whether or not those people are alive doesn’t concern me, though I have a feeling you need them alive for whatever you’re planning,” Shadow said in an icy calm voice.
“Then you will watch me kill them!” the voice said, materializing Sigma in front of Shadow.
“Nice trick. You really need to work on your taunting skills,” Shadow replied, turning and heading back towards Tomoyo and Meiling. “When you’re done with them, give them back. You only have to ask.”
“You insolent fool! Whether or not you care, Sigma will die! It costs me nothing!”
At that moment, Sigma’s form broke up into tiny particles of light which were quickly extinguished by the Dark magic in the Realm.
“Alright, so you’ve taken a hologram made of Light magic, and broken it up into a million tiny pieces. Now, what have you proven other than, ‘I don’t care what happens to them’ and ‘they’re important to you? ’” Shadow replied, continuing his walk away from where Sigma was.
“You know how wrong you are! Now for this one!”
Eriol materialized in front of Shadow, struggling in the air.
“Ok, now you’ve animated your hologram. Here, let me kill him for you,” Shadow said as he saw Eriol’s figure. He unleashed a large bolt of Dark energy which exploded as soon as it collided with Eriol, breaking him up into a million points of light. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but normal humans don’t break up into fragments of Light energy when they die.”
Shadow continued walking, enjoying the silence as the voice disappeared. As Tomoyo and Meiling came into view, he saw that they had awakened and greeted them.
“Hi, remember me?”
“Shadow! You captured us?” Meiling asked.
“If you’d like to believe that, go ahead. But for now, I claim that I didn’t.”
“Right. So why are we in a cage?” Meiling retorted.
“Before I answer your question, I need you to answer mine. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I remember sitting on a slab of rock when the world get really bright. After that, I don’t remember anything else,” Tomoyo replied.
“Well, after Tomoyo disappeared on the rock, Abner appeared and helped me look for her. After searching the rock for some clues, he told me to go to sleep and look later. After that, I remember suddenly being by Tomoyo and… That’s all,” Meiling said.
“Ok. Well, to answer your question: you’re not in a cage. You can walk through it whenever you want, though I suggest you stay in the shield that I’ve put up. You can move around, just make sure you stay close together,” Shadow said.
Tomoyo stepped up to the bars of the cage and stepped through them, realizing that it must be one of Shadow’s cards. “Why do we have to stay together?”
“I have The Shield following the two of you around, but it can’t follow both of you if you’re not together,” Shadow replied.
“Thank you, Shadow. Can you tell us where Sakura and everybody else are?” Tomoyo asked.
“Sakura’s with Altarrin again, unless something’s happened to her since Altarrin re-kidnapped her. As for everyone else, they were supposed to be on guard duty. The two of you took out Sigma, Candice and Eriol, and Abner’s been missing for a while. Everyone else should still be on duty around here. Oh, and Solana went out looking for you, so that leaves Tyrell and Matriana.”
“We… took out Sigma, Candice and Eriol? With what?”
“I suppose I ought to tell you the whole story. To begin, you and Tomoyo were ‘brainwashed’ by someone. Then you two were apparently sent to find Sakura and you came here to ask me where Sakura was. Anyhow, the person that ‘brainwashed’ you channeled his/her energy through you and was able to take out Candice, Eriol, and Tomoyo.”
“So, where are they now?” Tomoyo asked.
“I don’t know. Eriol and Sigma are captured and I only know that you did something to Candice because you had her dragon.”
“So where’s Li?” Meiling asked.
“He’s been taken by Altarrin. I’m sure we’ll get him back with Sakura. So, let’s go find the other rulers, or at least Tyrell and Matriana, and go look for the other rulers. We’ll find Sakura after that, ok?”
“Sure, we’ll wait here while you find Tyrell, and that looks like Matriana coming towards us.”
“Shadow! What happened? I felt a strong surge of energy here, and then ran into an invisible barrier while trying to get here!” Matriana yelled as she approached.
“Oh, not much. The person that’s controlling you now was controlling Tomoyo and Meiling here, which means I can assume that Tyrell’s not feeling like himself either. Good day,” Shadow replied, silently forming a shield around himself.
“So, you’re strong enough to sense me. Well, no matter!” Matriana said in a deep voice.
A strong aura surrounded her as she finished speaking and a large bolt of energy sprang from her fingertips, heading straight for Shadow. Inches from hitting him, the energy collided with his shield, shattering it to pieces. A moment later, Matriana unleashed another bolt which collided with Shadow and knocked him into a tree.
“Now then, Shadow, tell me where Sakura is!”
“I’ve already told you everything I know. If you want to find her, go ahead. Until then, I have nothing more to say to you.”
“Tell me something, Shadow. Do you not care that I hold the power to destroy you right now? Is this how you speak to someone that could destroy you by lifting a finger?”
“Yes, it is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to find Sakura,” Shadow said, getting up off the ground.
“Stop where you are!” Matriana commanded. “You may not know where Sakura is, but you can give me a general direction. Tell me, where is she?”
“I told you last time. Go north a bit and you should find her. Now, my fight is not with you, at least not until you have Sakura. So, until then, you may do as you please,” Shadow replied, turning his back on Matriana.
Moments later, Matriana sent another bolt of energy at Shadow. Shadow jumped into the air only to be hit by another stream of energy from Tyrell, suddenly in front of him. Tyrell made a motion in the air and sent Shadow flying backwards into another tree, knocking him unconscious.
“I’ll deal with you later! For now, I’m off to find Sakura,” Tyrell said, walking off with Matriana.
“Sakura, how are you?” Altarrin asked in a malevolent voice. “Last time, I asked you to decide how you wanted me to torture you, but you ran off instead. So today, I’ll have to make that decision for you!”
Sakura slowly groaned awake, only barely realizing what was happening. A moment later, she was zapped by a bolt of electricity coming from a Ring on her wrist.
“Seeing as you somehow managed to get the Fire Ring off, I decided to use the Lightning one instead. I assume that meddling Shadow has the Fire Ring. No matter, I’ll have fun with you until I get it back from him,” Altarrin said, forming a glowing whip in his hands.
“No! Stop!” Sakura said, backing into a corner.
Altarrin’s eyes turned a cold blue and Lightning energy sprang from the Ring on Sakura’s wrist, causing her to writhe in pain. Altarrin lifted his whip above his head and brought it down on Sakura’s back, tearing through her shirt and flesh. Fifteen minutes later, Altarrin stopped, leaving Sakura to cry in her tiny, filthy room.
Why? I want to go home… I never did anything! Sakura thought. A moment later, the door to her room opened and Lloyd walked in, closing the door behind him.
“Sakura, just hold on for a while. I’m sure you’ll figure a way out of this. Don’t cry,” Lloyd said, walking over to her with a bowl of healing salve.
“I… I can’t! Li’s been captured by Altarrin, and he won’t even listen to me anymore. It’s like he’s not even there. What am I supposed to do now? Every time Shadow or someone saves me, Altarrin just comes and takes me back. I can’t think of what else to do!” Sakura yelled as Lloyd rubbed the salve across her back.
“Well, I can’t help you there. Just remember the Prophecy that you know and try to fulfill what you’re supposed to. I’ve got to go… I’ll come visit again with some food for you. Sakura, just promise me that you won’t give up hope. You’ve come too far to do that now,” Lloyd said, backing away to the door.
“I promise,” Sakura replied, smiling slightly.
A few hours later, Sakura woke up and searched her mind for something she could do. Every plan she came up with was discarded until finally, she thought of something. What if I use these new cards? Maybe they can do something for me.
Sakura got to her feet and took out her Star key and began her incantation. “Release!”
She grabbed her Staff as it appeared and took out the golden card she had found on the roof of Shadow’s castle.
Please, if you do something, do it now! Sakura thought, throwing the card up into the air and channeling her magical energies into it. As she brought her staff near the card, it began to glow eerily before making a loud, explosive noise and sending Sakura flying into the wall.
What happened? Sakura thought, regaining some of her senses. She looked down at the card that she had attempted to use and took it in her hands.
The card looked exactly the same as it had before except for one thing. Now, there was a name on the card, embroidered in silver, the words, “The Spirit” could be seen at the bottom of the card.
Spirit? What am I supposed to do with this?
“You!” Altarrin yelled as he ran down the stairs. “Here you are trying to escape again! I will break your spirit if it takes me a millennium!” Altarrin formed the glowing whip in his hands and brought it down near Sakura. An inch away from Sakura’s face, a strong aura activated and sent Altarrin flying back into the stairs.
“Spirit!” Sakura yelled, using the new card and hoping that it would do something. The card hovered in the air as it started glowing a fierce red. Moments later, the red flowed from the card and onto the ground, forming a mass of energy. As the stream of red energy began to take some shape, more streams spouted from the card. A black one landed next to the red, blue next to it, followed by white, green, brown, and yellow.
Altarrin got to his feet and stared at the energy, knowing immediately what they were. “You! How did you summon them?” he asked, sending crescent shaped energy at each of Sakura’s masses of energy.
Altarrin’s crescent shots disappeared as they collided with the red energy on the ground which began taking the shape of a large dragon. The dragon sent forth a large bolt of energy and set Altarrin on fire before flapping its giant wings and blowing Altarrin up the stairs.
Next, the black energy formed a knight with a large sword and shield. The knight charged up the stairs and slashed at Altarrin with its giant sword, knocking him unconscious. Moments later, all the masses of energy dissipated and Sakura lost consciousness, having spent all her magical energies.
“Sakura, wake up!” Lloyd said, shaking Sakura awake.
“Wh-what happened?” Sakura asked as she slowly sat up.
“You did something with one of your cards and defeated Altarrin for now. Then you passed out. Are you ok?” Lloyd asked, seeming to be extremely concerned.
“I’m fine, thank you. I’m glad you reminded me not to give up. Have you seen Li?” Sakura asked.
“No. Altarrin’s disappeared as well. Right after you fell unconscious, his body disappeared. I think he may have somehow teleported away. Anyhow, I’m sure he knows that I’m on your side by now. Here, have something to drink,” Lloyd said, offering Sakura a glass of water.
Sakura took the water and quickly drank it before getting to her feet. “Lloyd, do you know where everyone else is?”
“Sorry, I have no clue where anyone is, though I’m sure we’ll eventually find them all again. What are you going to do now?”
“I’ll stay here, I guess. I think I’ve fulfilled the first two parts of the Prophecy, and maybe the fourth. But the third still confuses me. Lloyd, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Sure, what do you need?”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about what I’m supposed to do to and what Altarrin wants me for.”
“Well, Altarrin wants you to fulfill certain Dark Prophecies. He’s going to drain the energy from your body, somehow, and use it with the energy of the seven Spirits to open a gateway and destroy the Realms. As for what you’re supposed to do, you’re supposed to prevent this from happening by the Prophecy that you’ve already heard.”
Sakura stared off into space for a while before sitting back down and deciding to sleep. “Lloyd, wake me up if there’s anything wrong please. I’m a bit tired…” Sakura said, yawning and quickly falling asleep.
“Good night, Sakura.”
Eriol groaned awake in a small, steel cage, realizing that he’d been captured.
Ow… Whoever was controlling Tomoyo is extremely strong… he thought, sitting up and looking around for Sigma. Sigma lay in a small steel cage, much like Eriol’s across the dark room. Next to his cage, was a small door and a candle. Eriol examined the rest of the dome shaped room and found Candice in a cage nearby. After thoroughly examining the room, Eriol leaned against the back of his cage and lost himself in his thoughts.
A while later, a voice echoed through the room. “So, you’re all awake now. Well, get comfortable here. It’ll be a while before you’re set free,” the voice said, laughing as it finished.
“Sigma, can you do anything to get us out of these cages?” Candice asked.
“No, I can’t seem to access the Power Sphere from here. I suppose you haven’t had any luck either,” Sigma replied. “Eriol, can you use your magic?”
“Yes, I can. Give me a while to decide what I want to do. It’s probably not a good idea to just get out of here unless we know where we can go. I’ll take a look at some escape routes first and then we can decide what we want to do.”
“Alright, but make it quick. I have a feeling that something big is about to happen,” Sigma said.
Suddenly, the candle in the room went out, leaving the room pitch dark. A moment later, Eriol stood up and released his staff, shining a red light on the two rulers in the room with him. “Ok, as soon as I break us out of here, the two of you should be able to access whatever Spheres you need to. Keep in mind that we are still in the Dark Realm so Candice, your magic won’t work as well here. Ready?”
“Wait, I thought you said you were going to look for escape routes. What happened to those?” Sigma asked.
“Well, I figured that if you two could access your powers, we could just blow through the wall. If not, I have a route that we could take. Anyhow, let’s go.”
Eriol spun his staff a few times and made the front of the cages disappear, releasing the prisoners behind them. After Sigma and Candice stepped out of their cages, they drew energy from their respective Power Spheres and destroyed the wall separating them from the outside.
“Good, now we can get going,” Eriol said, jumping through the hole.
“How far down are you?” Sigma asked when he couldn’t see Eriol anymore.
“It’s not too far. You can just jump! To be safe, though, you can take a piece of the earth and float down on it,” Eriol replied from the bottom of the weird, dome-shaped structure.
“Alright, I’m coming,” Sigma replied, weaving Earth energy around a large slab of rock at the bottom and levitating it up to him. “Let’s go, Candice.”
“Right behind you. Eriol, do you have any idea where everyone else is?”
“Yes, but not much. They’re pretty far away. And as soon as you get down, I suggest that you be very careful and alert. Whoever captured us might have noticed the large explosion as we broke out,” Eriol said, watching as the large slab of rock appeared out of the darkness above him.
“It’s really dark here right now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this dark before,” Sigma said, helping Candice off the rock. “You were here during the war. Do you remember it ever being so dark?”
“No, but then again, I don’t remember much of this place. I never liked the Dark Realm. There were too many creatures here that just wait for you to let your guard down,” Candice replied.
“Ok, let’s go. We should look for Shadow first. He’s nearest, and I can barely feel Tyrell and Matriana. Solana is between them and Shadow. Ready?” Eriol asked.
“We’re ready. Let’s go,” Sigma replied.
The three of them set out to the east, heading towards Shadow without stopping for anything. An hour or two later, they found Shadow sitting on the ground with his legs crossed under him.
“Shadow, where’s everyone else gone?” Eriol asked as he approached.
“They, or at least Tyrell and Matriana, were ‘brainwashed’ and teamed up to get rid of me for a while. Sakura is fine at the moment. She seems to have just tapped into a really strong power and Lloyd should be with her now. Altarrin is still around, and there’s nothing more we can do but sit here and wait for Li to arrive. Unless these cards are very wrong, Li will be coming here shortly,” Shadow replied.
“What do you mean by, ‘unless these Cards are very wrong? ’” Sigma asked.
“Clow Cards have the ability to predict the future when used correctly. Shadow has apparently been sitting here using them to do just that. Tell me, how did you determine that Li would be coming here?” Eriol asked.
“That’s not important. Just know that he’ll be here soon. Sakura should be following right after him. Until then, there’s nothing that we can do,” Shadow replied.
“Fine, for once I’ll have to agree with you. I’ve got nothing better to do and I could use a nice, long rest. Now, if you really want me to be happy with you, tell me you have some food for me,” Candice said, sitting down on a small, flat rock.
“Can’t help you there. I don’t think there’s any food nearby, since you burned down the forest. Actually, I wouldn’t have eaten anything in that forest anyways. If you want some food, we can journey back to the castle quickly, or I could make for you some fake food with the Illusion Card. Any preferences?” Shadow replied sarcastically.
“Do you have something against me trying to be nice to you?”
“No, I just think that you’re smart enough to know that there isn’t any food without me having to tell you. Anyhow, we’ve got nothing better to do, so let’s here the story of where you’ve been,” Shadow said, getting ready for a long tale.
“There’s not much that’s happened. We were knocked unconscious by Tomoyo, and woke up in a dark room in some cages. Then, Eriol did something to dissipate the fronts of the cages and we blew up the wall to get out. After that, we walked for an hour or two and found you, sitting here like you were meditating or something,” Sigma said. “I’m sure Candice’s story is nearly the same, except she was knocked out somewhere else, right?”
“Yes, those two had some really strong magic with them. So, do you have any idea when Solana might be here?”
“That’s her in the distance. If you light a flare of sorts, she’ll see it and land nearby. I don’t think she can quite see us,” Shadow said, pointing off to the east.
“How can you see her?” Sigma asked.
“Well, I’m the ruler of this Realm, so I have to have gotten used to the dark by now. In other words, I can see further than all of you because I use Dark magic to extend my viewing range in the Dark Realm,” Shadow replied. “Now, if you would do us the favor of lighting a flare, please.”
“Sure, I’ll make you a flare,” Candice said, channeling some Fire energy into Shadow’s clothes and setting them afire.
“Very funny,” Shadow said, extinguishing himself by destroying the Fire energy that started the flames.
“Shadow! I couldn’t find them. Have any of you had any luck?” Solana asked, landing next to Shadow.
“Well, we’ve got a nice long story to tell you, if that makes you feel better. You could say that we’ve had some luck,” Sigma replied.
“So, tell Solana our story. Make sure you’re on the lookout for Li. He’ll be here shortly. Until then, I’ll lay here and relax. Wake me up when Li’s nearby, ok Eriol?”
“Sure thing,” Eriol said solemnly. Though I think he already is…
Well, there’s a chapter for you… I hope to have the next chapter up really soon… seeing as its summer vacation. As for everything else that’s usually at the end of these chapters, I think I’ll skip it (except for the challenge, of course). In short, I’ll let you decide what you want to remember. So, the challenge, condensed again, who’s Shadow, what does he want, what’s the point of his existence… well, that’s the short version… go read the other chapters to find out what the full version is… I think it starts in chpt… oh… try 9…